It was Friday, February 20th. I was sitting in our guest bedroom, where I have my small computer desk, doing some work on my laptop. I heard a loud CRASH out in the parking lot, in front of our condo. This was not the sound of a little fender-bender. I got up to look out the front window (this bedroom overlooks the parking area). I didn’t see anything. I looked out the other side, where I can see our carport. That’s when I saw our neighbor’s full-sized SUV smashed into the side of our parked Honda CRV. Yes, the Honda that I spent 6 days in Panama City acquiring [see earlier posts]. The one we had only owned for about 3 weeks and had been really enjoying.

The "offending" SUV belongs to our downstairs neighbors – an older couple. She (Burnette) is probably in her 70s and he (Harry) is 85. We went running downstairs, thinking perhaps one of them lost control of the vehicle and might need medical attention. It turns out that Harry had “parked” the car temporarily, about 100-150 feet away from the carport. Apparently, he was getting something out of the back of the car. He had turned off the car and had the keys in his hand but had not put the car in Park or set the parking brake – don’t ask me why. The car started rolling away and Harry was not going to be able to catch it. It’s a downhill slope to the carport and the car picked up speed until WHAM – it plowed into the side of our parked car. What are the odds of having a 2-car motor vehicle accident where there isn’t a driver in EITHER car!!!!! Really, how could our car be any safer than in our parking spot, under the carport, in our gated community? Freaky!

I simply don’t know what to think about all the issues we’ve had with buying and owning a car here in Panama. We need to have one, given where we are living, and it’s been great because we are using the car probably 5 days a week. But what’s the deal????

The damage:

The good news is that Burnette has insurance (it’s her car) and it will cover all the repairs to our car. It’s also easier because we both have the same insurance agent. Burnette and I met the agent the next morning (Saturday) in David and she took us to 2 different mechanics to get estimates for the repairs. The agent will submit the estimates to the insurance company, once she receives them. The repair process is a little different here. The challenge is going to be finding 2 doors for a 2005 Honda CRV. I don’t know how long that will take. Meanwhile, our car is drivable but looks terrible.

Did I mention that this was our Anniversary weekend? We had actually planned to be away Thursday through Saturday but we were unable to get a reservation at the resort we wanted to go to for our Anniversary celebration. Not the best timing...